Did you know that if you buy something with an American Express card and it’s lost, damaged, or stolen within the first 90 days, American Express will replace the item or reimburse you up to the amount of the purchase price? My friend Michelle just came back from a skiing trip with her family in which she managed to get an oil stain on her brand new ski jacket. She had no idea how it got there but she took it to the cleaners and they were unable to remove the stain.

I never thought I’d put an exclamation mark on a sentence about credit card statements, much less be sincerely excited about it, but here we are. You have to pick your battles in life, and clearly-displayed information is one of mine. Educating people about credit card danger is another. Today, I feel like I’ve won a battle, or at least helped.

Chase Card Services has announced today that it plans to make some changes to its Freedom credit card.

I’m growing more concerned about my relationship with credit card issuers. We’ve been getting along mostly well for several years. I charge many of my expenses, pay my bills on time, collect some rewards, and they don’t levy any additional fees. These companies are certainly making money off of me through the interchange fees they charge the merchants with whom I do business, but my bank accounts still mostly benefit from the use of credit cards.

Credit card companies, facing losses in revenue from the new rules protecting consumers put forth today by the Credit CARD Act, are already looking for new ways to charge consumers for using their cards. One way to do this is to increase inactivity fees, forcing consumers to use the card more frequently or else pay a penalty.
Use It or Lose It (Or Pay For It)